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1 *usr_11.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2005 Jun 09
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3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
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4
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5 Recovering from a crash
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6
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7
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8 Did your computer crash? And you just spent hours editing? Don't panic! Vim
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9 keeps enough information on harddisk to be able to restore most of your work.
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10 This chapter shows you how to get your work back and explains how the swap
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11 file is used.
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12
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13 |11.1| Basic recovery
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14 |11.2| Where is the swap file?
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15 |11.3| Crashed or not?
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16 |11.4| Further reading
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17
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18 Next chapter: |usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
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19 Previous chapter: |usr_10.txt| Making big changes
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20 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
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21
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22 ==============================================================================
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23 *11.1* Basic recovery
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24
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25 In most cases recovering a file is quite simple, assuming you know which file
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26 you were editing (and the harddisk is still working). Start Vim on the file,
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27 with the "-r" argument added: >
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28
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29 vim -r help.txt
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30
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31 Vim will read the swap file (used to store text you were editing) and may read
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32 bits and pieces of the original file. If all is well, you will see these
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33 messages (with different file names, of course):
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34
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35 Using swap file ".help.txt.swp" ~
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36 Original file "~/vim/runtime/doc/help.txt" ~
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37 Recovery completed. You should check if everything is OK. ~
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38 (You might want to write out this file under another name ~
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39 and run diff with the original file to check for changes) ~
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40 Delete the .swp file afterwards. ~
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41
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42 To be on the safe side, write this file under another name: >
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43
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44 :write help.txt.recovered
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45
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46 Compare the file with the original file to check if you ended up with what you
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47 expected. Vimdiff is very useful for this |08.7|. Watch out for the original
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48 file to contain a more recent version (you saved the file just before the
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49 computer crashed). And check that no lines are missing (something went wrong
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50 that Vim could not recover).
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51 If Vim produces warning messages when recovering, read them carefully.
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52 This is rare though.
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53
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54 It's normal that the last few changes can not be recovered. Vim flushes the
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55 changes to disk when you don't type for about four seconds, or after typing
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56 about two hundred characters. This is set with the 'updatetime' and
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57 'updatecount' options. Thus when Vim didn't get a chance to save itself when
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58 the system went down, the changes after the last flush will be lost.
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59
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60 If you were editing without a file name, give an empty string as argument: >
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61
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62 vim -r ""
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63
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64 You must be in the right directory, otherwise Vim can't find the swap file.
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65
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66 ==============================================================================
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67 *11.2* Where is the swap file?
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68
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69 Vim can store the swap file in several places. Normally it is in the same
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70 directory as the original file. To find it, change to the directory of the
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71 file, and use: >
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72
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73 vim -r
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74
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75 Vim will list the swap files that it can find. It will also look in other
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76 directories where the swap file for files in the current directory may be
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77 located. It will not find swap files in any other directories though, it
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78 doesn't search the directory tree.
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79 The output could look like this:
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80
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81 Swap files found: ~
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82 In current directory: ~
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83 1. .main.c.swp ~
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84 owned by: mool dated: Tue May 29 21:00:25 2001 ~
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85 file name: ~mool/vim/vim6/src/main.c ~
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86 modified: YES ~
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87 user name: mool host name: masaka.moolenaar.net ~
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88 process ID: 12525 ~
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89 In directory ~/tmp: ~
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90 -- none -- ~
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91 In directory /var/tmp: ~
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92 -- none -- ~
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93 In directory /tmp: ~
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94 -- none -- ~
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95
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96 If there are several swap files that look like they may be the one you want to
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97 use, a list is given of these swap files and you are requested to enter the
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98 number of the one you want to use. Carefully look at the dates to decide
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99 which one you want to use.
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100 In case you don't know which one to use, just try them one by one and check
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101 the resulting files if they are what you expected.
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102
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103
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104 USING A SPECIFIC SWAP FILE
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105
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106 If you know which swap file needs to be used, you can recover by giving the
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107 swap file name. Vim will then finds out the name of the original file from
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108 the swap file.
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109
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110 Example: >
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111 vim -r .help.txt.swo
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112
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113 This is also handy when the swap file is in another directory than expected.
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114 If this still does not work, see what file names Vim reports and rename the
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115 files accordingly. Check the 'directory' option to see where Vim may have
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116 put the swap file.
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117
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118 Note:
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119 Vim tries to find the swap file by searching the directories in the
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120 'dir' option, looking for files that match "filename.sw?". If
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121 wildcard expansion doesn't work (e.g., when the 'shell' option is
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122 invalid), Vim does a desperate try to find the file "filename.swp".
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123 If that fails too, you will have to give the name of the swapfile
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124 itself to be able to recover the file.
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125
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126 ==============================================================================
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127 *11.3* Crashed or not? *ATTENTION* *E325*
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128
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129 Vim tries to protect you from doing stupid things. Suppose you innocently
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130 start editing a file, expecting the contents of the file to show up. Instead,
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131 Vim produces a very long message:
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132
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133 E325: ATTENTION ~
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134 Found a swap file by the name ".main.c.swp" ~
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135 owned by: mool dated: Tue May 29 21:09:28 2001 ~
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136 file name: ~mool/vim/vim6/src/main.c ~
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137 modified: no ~
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138 user name: mool host name: masaka.moolenaar.net ~
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139 process ID: 12559 (still running) ~
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140 While opening file "main.c" ~
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141 dated: Tue May 29 19:46:12 2001 ~
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142 ~
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143 (1) Another program may be editing the same file. ~
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144 If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two ~
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145 different instances of the same file when making changes. ~
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146 Quit, or continue with caution. ~
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147 ~
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148 (2) An edit session for this file crashed. ~
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149 If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r main.c" ~
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150 to recover the changes (see ":help recovery"). ~
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151 If you did this already, delete the swap file ".main.c.swp" ~
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152 to avoid this message. ~
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153
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154 You get this message, because, when starting to edit a file, Vim checks if a
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155 swap file already exists for that file. If there is one, there must be
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156 something wrong. It may be one of these two situations.
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157
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158 1. Another edit session is active on this file. Look in the message for the
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159 line with "process ID". It might look like this:
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160
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161 process ID: 12559 (still running) ~
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162
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163 The text "(still running)" indicates that the process editing this file
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164 runs on the same computer. When working on a non-Unix system you will not
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165 get this extra hint. When editing a file over a network, you may not see
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166 the hint, because the process might be running on another computer. In
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167 those two cases you must find out what the situation is yourself.
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168 If there is another Vim editing the same file, continuing to edit will
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169 result in two versions of the same file. The one that is written last will
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170 overwrite the other one, resulting in loss of changes. You better quit
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171 this Vim.
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172
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173 2. The swap file might be the result from a previous crash of Vim or the
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174 computer. Check the dates mentioned in the message. If the date of the
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175 swap file is newer than the file you were editing, and this line appears:
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176
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177 modified: YES ~
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178
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179 Then you very likely have a crashed edit session that is worth recovering.
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180 If the date of the file is newer than the date of the swap file, then
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181 either it was changed after the crash (perhaps you recovered it earlier,
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182 but didn't delete the swap file?), or else the file was saved before the
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183 crash but after the last write of the swap file (then you're lucky: you
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184 don't even need that old swap file). Vim will warn you for this with this
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185 extra line:
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186
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187 NEWER than swap file! ~
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188
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189
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190 UNREADABLE SWAP FILE
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191
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192 Sometimes the line
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193
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194 [cannot be read] ~
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195
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196 will appear under the name of the swap file. This can be good or bad,
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197 depending on circumstances.
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198
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199 It is good if a previous editing session crashed without having made any
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200 changes to the file. Then a directory listing of the swap file will show
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201 that it has zero bytes. You may delete it and proceed.
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202
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203 It is slightly bad if you don't have read permission for the swap file. You
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204 may want to view the file read-only, or quit. On multi-user systems, if you
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205 yourself did the last changes under a different login name, a logout
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206 followed by a login under that other name might cure the "read error". Or
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207 else you might want to find out who last edited (or is editing) the file and
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208 have a talk with them.
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209
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210 It is very bad if it means there is a physical read error on the disk
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211 containing the swap file. Fortunately, this almost never happens.
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212 You may want to view the file read-only at first (if you can), to see the
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213 extent of the changes that were "forgotten". If you are the one in charge of
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214 that file, be prepared to redo your last changes.
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215
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216
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217 WHAT TO DO?
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218
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219 If dialogs are supported you will be asked to select one of five choices:
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220
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221 Swap file ".main.c.swp" already exists! ~
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222 [O]pen Read-Only, (E)dit anyway, (R)ecover, (Q)uit, (A)bort, (D)elete it: ~
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223
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224 O Open the file readonly. Use this when you just want to view the file and
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225 don't need to recover it. You might want to use this when you know someone
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226 else is editing the file, but you just want to look in it and not make
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227 changes.
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228
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229 E Edit the file anyway. Use this with caution! If the file is being edited
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230 in another Vim, you might end up with two versions of the file. Vim will
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231 try to warn you when this happens, but better be safe then sorry.
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232
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233 R Recover the file from the swap file. Use this if you know that the swap
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234 file contains changes that you want to recover.
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235
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236 Q Quit. This avoids starting to edit the file. Use this if there is another
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237 Vim editing the same file.
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238 When you just started Vim, this will exit Vim. When starting Vim with
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239 files in several windows, Vim quits only if there is a swap file for the
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240 first one. When using an edit command, the file will not be loaded and you
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241 are taken back to the previously edited file.
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242
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243 A Abort. Like Quit, but also abort further commands. This is useful when
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244 loading a script that edits several files, such as a session with multiple
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245 windows.
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246
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247 D Delete the swap file. Use this when you are sure you no longer need it.
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248 For example, when it doesn't contain changes, or when the file itself is
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249 newer than the swap file.
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250 On Unix this choice is only offered when the process that created the
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251 swap file does not appear to be running.
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252
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253 If you do not get the dialog (you are running a version of Vim that does not
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254 support it), you will have to do it manually. To recover the file, use this
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255 command: >
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256
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257 :recover
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258
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259
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260 Vim cannot always detect that a swap file already exists for a file. This is
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261 the case when the other edit session puts the swap files in another directory
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262 or when the path name for the file is different when editing it on different
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263 machines. Therefore, don't rely on Vim always warning you.
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264
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265 If you really don't want to see this message, you can add the 'A' flag to the
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266 'shortmess' option. But it's very unusual that you need this.
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267
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268 ==============================================================================
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269 *11.4* Further reading
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270
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271 |swap-file| An explanation about where the swap file will be created and
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272 what its name is.
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273 |:preserve| Manually flushing the swap file to disk.
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274 |:swapname| See the name of the swap file for the current file.
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275 'updatecount' Number of key strokes after which the swap file is flushed to
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276 disk.
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277 'updatetime' Timeout after which the swap file is flushed to disk.
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278 'swapsync' Whether the disk is synced when the swap file is flushed.
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279 'directory' List of directory names where to store the swap file.
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280 'maxmem' Limit for memory usage before writing text to the swap file.
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281 'maxmemtot' Same, but for all files in total.
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282
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283 ==============================================================================
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284
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285 Next chapter: |usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
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286
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287 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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